General Hospital’s Avery Kristen Pohl On Return As Esme: ‘I Missed That Girl!’ (Exclusive)
On General Hospital, Avery Kristen Pohl played the despicable Esme Prince from 2021-24, a character who was presumed dead alongside her ex-boyfriend, Spencer Cassadine (Nicholas Chavez), who gave his life successfully preventing a deranged Esme from killing Spencer’s true love, Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali). On the December 5 episode of the show, Esme popped up alive — but only in the nightmare of a tormented Laura Collins (Genie Francis). Soap Opera Digest chatted with Pohl about her short-term comeback to her old Port Charles stomping grounds.
Fit For A Prince
“It was the quickest little pop-in, but it was so fun to see everybody,” smiles Pohl,who adds, “We filmed [the episode] a week after the [Daytime] Emmys,” where she had been nominated in the Outstanding Guest Performer category, “so I got to catch up with everybody and then go see them at work a week later, which was really fun.”
The actress’s brief return kicked off with a phone call from her manager, who relayed that GH was hoping she’d be available to take part in the episode. “They were like, ‘Hey! thoughts, comments?’ And I was like, ‘Sure!’ And then a couple of follow-up phone calls and emails later, I was there [laughs].”
Pohl reports that while Laura was far from thrilled to lay eyes on Esme again, she herself enjoyed a very warm reunion with Genie Francis. “Oh, it was so sweet,” she gushes. “I always love seeing her. She’s such a kind spirit. I didn’t know what the story was, particularly, when I was coming back, and I was really happy to hear that it was in her dream because I was like, ‘Yay, I get to work with Genie again!’ It was a really nice surprise.”
Given that her character was a manifestation of Laura’s psyche, Pohl says she played the role slightly differently than she would have if Esme was properly back in the land of the living. “I definitely kept in mind that it was a dream,” she nods. “I think dreams are really fun because you get to throw out some of the social context and rules that might be needed for doing a scene that’s not in a dream. So, you get to have way more freedom, and I think for this scene in particular, I think Laura really hurt Esme and was really aware of that fact. So I thought everything had to stem from that perspective. But it’s weird; you’re taking someone else’s perspective of you as a character and then channeling that into speaking back to them. At least, there’s where my head was as an actor with that. But getting to look at your character from a slightly different perspective and lens keeps things fresh and interesting and it was really enjoyable and fun, getting to step back into Esme. I loved it! I missed that girl a lot.”
Making sure she had her dialogue nailed down presented a bit of a challenge for Pohl, who explains, “I was very sick when I had to go film that. So, I was putting more pressure on myself to memorize it really, really well and make sure that there was no way I could drop a line because my brain wasn’t operating at 100% capacity because I was sick. I definitely put probably more effort into having to memorize because of that compared to when you’re doing it week after week [as a regular cast member]. But I would say that it is sort of like riding a bike. It’s a muscle that you exercise, and there’s a certain amount of muscle memory to it. When I stepped on stage, I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve got it.’ There were no nerves or worry. You just step right back in and you do your job and you go home.”
Also returning to participate in Laura’s nightmare was Jeff Kober, who played Laura’s nefarious brother, Cyrus Renault. Pohl had crossed on-screen paths with him before, but only briefly. “I did one episode with Jeff,” she notes, “where Esme was looking for help after [her son] Ace was taken away, right before she decided to go to France. He is wonderful, by the way! What a talented, talented individual.”
As a bonus, Pohl got to hear all about Kober’s new gig, playing the recurring role of Duke on the acclaimed HBO series The Pitt. “He mentioned it while we were shooting, and I was like, ‘You don’t understand! I love that show!'” recalls the actress. “I congratulated him and I was like, ‘That is such a huge deal!’ The Pitt is so, so good – I watched it twice in a week, and I’m embarrassed to say that! I don’t watch a ton of stuff more than once.”
Looking back on the experience of heading back to the studio she called her home away from home for three years, Pohl reflects, “It’s definitely very weird, mentally. It’s almost like going back to high school, in a way. You’re like, ‘Oh, all the halls are the same. Some of the people are different, some of the people are the same.’ It feels nostalgic in a way, because I was 19 to 22 [years old] when I was there. That was a very formative set of years in my life! So to spend that time there at that age had a really big impact, and it felt surreal but very fun to be back. It felt like a homecoming in some ways and in other ways it was like, ‘Life is different now.’ But it was really fun to see people and to walk through the stage and all the different sets and see what had changed and what hadn’t. It was a great experience! I’m glad I had it and it was really fun to go be Esme again for a second.”
Pohl has a deep appreciation for the complex character. “She has so many different sides to her that you almost feel as if you’re playing every side of humanity in one person, in that you don’t know what she’s gonna be or what she’s gonna do or what perspective she’s gonna have on something. To get to craft that and have basically no rules as a character is so fulfilling as an artist to get to do. She’s just the most fun I’ve ever had in terms of a specific character to play, and I hold her near and dear to my heart”
And if the show was to ask her back to reprise Esme yet again, she says, “I’m always open to talking and going from there.”
The actress certainly thinks it’s a possibility that reports of Esme’s death were greatly exaggerated, winking, “I would like to think that she is on a little vacation somewhere. Maybe she stuck around France, maybe she’s like, in Morocco on a camel somewhere. I don’t know, but I don’t think she’s dead. If there’s not a body, you’re not dead, is my rule of thumb [laughs].”
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